Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126620
This is the first mock-up of the U.S. Suzuki/Don Vesco streamliner that will be entered in the Creig Vetter National High Mileage Contast on July 10. The final version will be powered by a GN126 four-stroke engine . Suzuki personnel warn against seeing anything like this in next year's Suzuki line-up; it's simply an engineering exercise. AMA makes sweeping changes in Nat'l MX program WESTERVI LLE. OH. J UN E 4 M ike DiPrete, direc tor of profe..ion.1r.cing. h. s .nnounced the AMA w ill offer. totally revamped Nation.1 Ch.mpionship MX program in 1983. He.ding t he list of ch.nges w ill be a Grand National MX Championshi p Series which w ill see 250 and 600cc "outdoor " events and st.dium events awarding points leading to one rider being crowned the Gr.nd Nation.1 Ch.mpion. . Only the 125cc cl... w ill see a N.tional Ch.mpion crowned as in the p.st. but after having won that t itle a rider will no longer be el igible to compete in that cl.ss. In addition. the claiming rule h.s been reinstated f or the '83 125cc N.tional Ch.mpionship MX Series. Rider eligibility requirem ent s w ill be changed for ' 8 3. and D iPrete Aid a "meaningful " Regional Championship Series will take pl.ce. " When we split the cl.sses a few years ago. we split the good riders. " said DiPrete. "Spect.tors w.nt all the good riders together. which will help the outdoor promoters. There will be 28 motos run in the combined 250 /500 program . Only the best 20 will be counted tow.rds the championship. so a privateer will have a chance to score all his points w ithout traveling to races too f.r f rom home. " A 125cc (support) class will run w ith e.ch N.tion.1 round . and a $3.500 claiming rule will be in effect in th.t cl.... Once a rider wins the 125cc #1 plate. he must ride the Grand National Championship the following ye.r. Only Expert ranked pros can ride the Grand National Championship. so Novice pros will be riding the Regional MX Series to attain their Expert ranking . That will help the Regional program to grow." H onda's Andre Malherbe won the June 13 round of th e 500cc World Mo tocross Ch ampionship in West Germ an y, but American Brad Lackey. (Suz) held on to his points lead with a seco nd overall. Hakan Ca rlqvi st (Yam) won th e first moto, foll ow ed by Malherbe, Lackey, Neil Hudson (Ya m) and Andre Vromans (Suz). Of note was Lackey's performance, as he fell in the race, restarted in 20th, and still finished third. In the second moto it was Malherbe, Lackey (who started 15th and almost passed Malherbe), Vromans, Hudson and Dave Thorpe (Kaw). So the point standings going into the June 20 Datsun USGP of Motocross at Carlsbad ar e: La ckey (126), Malherbe (121), Vromans (104), Hudson (95), Graham Noyce (88), Thorpe (76), J ean J acques Bruno (5 1), Carlqvist (48) and American Gary Semics (45). the leading privateer on the circuit. American Danny laPorte (Vam) and Kees Van der Ven (KTM) split moto wins and runner-up finishes at the June 13 250cc World Motocross Ch.mpionship round in Eng land. In the f irst round it was Van der Ven. laPorte. D.ve Watson (Vam). Georges Jobe (Suz) and American Mike Guerra (Hus). while laPorte won the second moto over Van der Ven Henk Mierlo. Watson and Guerra. The re was no offici.I word on the overall winner (decided in Europe by el.psed time) at pre..time. Jobe, the po int leader coming into the race, suffered another elbow inj ury in the second moto, and is now t ied f or second w ith laPorte in the po ints, beh ind va n der Ven (118). laPorte and Jobe have 116. Gary PusteIak will be out of action for a while following a spill in practice at the Castle Rock MX National that broke his collarbone. While doctors at the hospital told him it would take six weeks to heal. Gary returned to the track to spectate and said. "No way; I' ll be back in three weeks ." Foresight, perhapl? Premonition? Wishful thinking? After the racing wal done at Castle Rock, a few folks in the Honda camp. including Donnie and Lisa Hansen. were sporting brand new white T-shirts that read. "#1. Donnie Hansen. 1982 AMA National 260cc MX Champion." front and back. The AMA Board of Trustees met in Mi lwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 24. They discussed and approved a proposal by the AMA government relations staff to take a stronger position a inst excessive off-road motorcycle noise by impleme nting consistent noise rules for a ll a p p ropriate types of AMA sanctioned competition beyo nd the mid-1980s. As o f J anuary I , 1984. the followi ng deci bel li mits, measured at 20 inches by the SAE 1287 method, will be enforced: Professiona l and amateur MX - 100 (+2) d BA; enduro, ISD E, and trials - 98 (+2) dBA. As of J anua ry I, 1986: Professional and amateur MX - 90 (+2) dBA; enduro, ISDE and trials- 96 (+2) dBA. Joe Folgore (Suz) ended Terry Vance's (Suz) long running string of NMRA Pro Stock victories during the NMRA portion of the June 13 NHRA Springn.tion.ls drag race at Columbus. OH's Nat ional Tr.i l R.ceway. Folgore turned in an 8.83 second. 149 mph run to win over Vance's 8.80/ 148.51 . The June 12-13 IDB A Su nshi ne Natio na lsdrag race a t So uth Carolina's Da rlington International Dragway saw Sam Wills (Kaw) and Johnny Sands (Hon) take Top Fuel and Funny Bike wins, respectively. Dave Shultz topped the Pro Stock ranks o n a Kawasaki two-stroke triple. " Su pe rbike Mike " Keyte was on the losing end in Pro Stock, but went home with IDBA ET and mph records at 8.73 seconds/182.02 mph. D.Ie Singleton (Vam) won the Sunday. June 13, Castrol Challenge Road Race in Montre.l. Canada. The bike race was run as a preliminary event to the C.n.di.n Formula One GP car race. Canadi.ns Steve Gervais (Vam) .nd veteran Vvon DuH.mel (K.w) finished 23 , while Rich Chambers (V.m) took fourth . "My sponsor. Carl Bo uckeert of Beaulieu of America. flew in and brought John Michaels. the buyer for Sea rs. with him. Elmer and me hope my winning sells a bunch of Beaulieu rugs' " said U.S . Road Race Ch.mpion Singleton. Having your name on the side o f every Harl ey-Davidson di dn't help J oh n Harley, Jr. when the H ar leyDavidson Motor Co . la id off employees recen tly. J ohn, grandso n of' H- D co-fou nder William Davidson, has spent the last seven years as a tech nical wr iter at H-D. "I though t they might keep me around beca use of who I was, but recession knows no p rejudices, I guess," sai d Ha rley af ter he received word that he was bei ng laid off. Evel Knievel is back in the news again. A major beer producer is sponsoring a aeries of wheelie contests and according to press reports. anyone who can wheelie better than Evel will collect .10.000. While details of how the contests will be run is sketchy. we wonder if the backers heve ever seen Doug " W h e e l i e King " Domokos do his thing. Elsewhere in this issue is an interview with National Motorsports Association fou nder Ron Hendricksen . While Hendricken's son Kurt gained . some no toriety as a minicyc1e star, it 's Ro n 's da ug h ter La u rie who's making the sounds these days. She's a member of the female rock gr oup The Go Gos, whose Beauty and the Beat a lb um went gold or p latinum earlier th is year . Hey , Pa pa 's got the beat but his lips aren't sealed! Kawasaki will be posting contingency award prize money for N MA and AMA National Champions who win their class(es) at Ponca City or Hurricane Mills, respectively. on a Kawasaki. The w inners will receive a $600 savings bond. and $500 cash will go to the rider's parents. legal guardian or tuner. America's MXG P points leader, Brad Lackey, will be featured on the San Jose TV program Sport Talk. The program, to be taped June 17 for telecast June 20 on Channel 36, has a live audience seating capacity of 80, and those are being offered on a firstcome, first -serve basis at 1536 Kerley in San Jose. If you 're unable to make it in person, double check local listings for the air time. The July 10-11 Lagun. Seca road race will have a cla..ie and special interest bike display on both Saturday and Sund.y. with a parade lap on Saturday. To prepare the schedule. organizers are requesti n g that those inter ested in particip.ting pre-enter to Mike Lawis. 10200 Nevada Ave.• Chatsworth. CA 91311 . Or you can give Mike a call at 213 / 882-4489. Remem ber Peter Lamppu, the Mon tesa mo tocross standout for so man y years? Well, Peter 's lovely wife Judy is now a singer/songwriter, and she a nd the Doo-Wa h R iders will present "An Eveni ng of Originals" on Thursday, June24, a t the Valley West Concert Cl u b, 19657 Ventura Blvd., in